Cairn calls in the navy then wields a legal lump hammer to stop us protecting the Arctic

Last night, Hannah and Luke, our two brave climbers, were removed from the Arctic survival pod that had been suspended from the underside of the 53,000 tonne Leiv Eiriksson oil rig, here off the coast of Greenland, for the last 100-odd hours. By hanging near the “moon pool” where the rig’s drill-bit would normally be sunk, they stopped it drilling for over four days.

The two were arrested and taken to the Greenland capital of Nuuk, where they remain in custody, but are safe and well. The Greenpeace ship Esperanza, where I am sitting now, remains just outside the 500m exclusion zone, imposed by a Danish navy warship, around the Atammik drill site in these chilly, fog-bound seas.

You would have thought that getting the armed might of the Danish navy involved to remove to peaceful protestors and stop us shining a light on dangerous deep water drilling in the Arctic would be enough for most companies.

Not Cairn.

It has gone a step further, lodging legal papers threatening us with massive fines of 2 million Euros for every day we are here stopping the rig drilling.

The claim will be heard in Amsterdam on Monday, but what’s more, in these legal papers Cairn says that the delays we have caused its drilling are costing it $4m a day.

Now, earlier today the company claimed to media, including the BBC, that the four-day occupation has had “no impact on its schedule.” Yet in the court documents Cairn estimates that “the damage resulting from delay to those drilling activities at least USD 4 million per day. The urgent character of the plaintiffs' demand thus speaks for itself."

What to believe? Personally, I think we all know the word to use when one person is telling two different things to two different people, knowing full well that only one of them happens to be correct, but our lawyers have just reminded me that they’ve yet to meet a poor libel lawyer. Suffice to say that were Bill Gammell ever caught making such outlandish claims in public his nose would grow to such a length that he could quite easily use it to drill a deep water well of his very own.

Since we started our occupation Cairn has hid behind the Greenland government and the Danish Navy, and now it’s trying to use the Dutch courts to stop us exposing the huge risks it’s taking with this beautiful and fragile environment, or cover up the threat to the economy of Greenland, which is so reliant on fishing.

It can hire all the lawyers it likes, but they won’t shut down our campaign to kick the oil companies out of the Arctic. We’ll challenge Cairn and its expensively suited lawyers every step of way.

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(Unregistered) Ecodutchy
says:

I suggest we change "double Dutch" into "double Scottish"? Who will send the bill to Bill and all the other CEO's for destructing ...

I suggest we change "double Dutch" into "double Scottish"? Who will send the bill to Bill and all the other CEO's for destructing the Planet? I hope Greenpeace will go on with their efforts and get lots of support from both indigenous people of Greeenland and the rest of the world, including Europeans called Danish!

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(Unregistered) Bebi
says:

The environmental impacts are no worser than Greenpeace try to scare us with... misinformations about "toxic chemicals and oil-spill-will-be-wors...

The environmental impacts are no worser than Greenpeace try to scare us with... misinformations about "toxic chemicals and oil-spill-will-be-worser-than-the-Mexican-golf" Greenpeace are misinforming about those... makes the problem bigger than it is... just to make a media stunt with Greenland as victim

__________________
Below are a copy/paste from already published document "DMU's assessment of environmental and climatic conditions"

With five exceptions to the chemicals in the table meets the requirements for classification as PLONOR or "yellow". DMU has received information from Capricorn on the five "red" boreadditiver: Ultrahib, which is part of the water-based drilling mud system ULTRADRILL and Preparedness chemicals Antifoam Agent D206, KI-3924 and D500 and D600G GASBLOK. Emergency chemicals expected if they used to be emitted in relatively small quantities, while
volumes for Ultrahib equivalent to 45-48 tonnes (+ 45 to 48 tons of emergency) per. well

In conjunction with the planned use of UltrahibDMU has asked clarifying questions to Capricorn and they explained their assessment of the environmental advantages and disadvantages and the technical and security reasons for applying ULTRADRILL. DMU assessed in accordance with the Norwegian authorities' evaluation of Capricorn statements that there is documented, technical and safety reasons for using drilling system ULTRADRILL. Including considering the argument heavily on early decommissioning of drilling cases of impending iceberg collision. Using Ultrahib ensures best drill formation, so that a Any fastsidning of drill string is prevented. DMU estimates that this fact together with lack of reception facilities of the drilling mud in Greenland, legitimizes the derivation of the specified amount Ultrahib. Ultrahib has a low toxicity and does not bioaccumulate, but is
classified as "red"because it is relatively slowly degradable

To follow the direction OSPAR guidelines, which are part of the mining directorate policy and attributes the phasing out of "red" chemicals ordered operator substitution obligationCapricorn is ordered to prepare a plan per. 1. September 2011 for how the future will ensure the reduction of use and emission of "red"chemicals

DMU, according to OSPAR guidelines to reduce the use and discharge of special "red" chemicals, requested detailed documentation and justification of Capricorn for the use and discharge of Ultrahib classified as "red". DMU has assessed the accordance with the Norwegian authorities' evaluation of Capricorn statements that technical and safety reasons for using Ultrahib in conjunction with the drilling system ULTRADRILL legitimizes the discharge of the specified amount. Ultrahib has a low toxicity and does not bioaccumulate, but is classified as "red"because it is relatively slow to degrade.
____________

In the event of a spill? It is no worse than Greenpeace is trying to scare with ...

"In-situ burning is definitely a good way to clean up. It has not previously been recognized and is little used. It has been used in the Gulf of Mexico. But the method works much better in the Arctic, where the cold means that the oil does not evaporate as quickly as in warmer climates. That leaves a large quantity of the flammable part of the oil, "she explains."

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(Unregistered) Celticopia
says:

Greenpeace represents people concerned about the future resources and wildlife that will exist or not exist on this planet dependent upon their actions. They have just as much right to prevent and protest the drill as the drillers think they have to drill in the first place. Cairn represents a company, and a board of directors and their owners only, while greenpeace represents a much larger global population that is standing up for its right to protect this planet.

Get a life Cairn, and grow a brain that thinks past this years profits, into a future and technology thats actually 100% good for us and the planet and not just 100% selfish for you and your profits